Method and system for calibrating multiple cameras

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a method for calibrating cameras. In particular, the invention provides a method that estimates the position of interest points such as corners on images of array patterns, and uses such refined positions in an iterative calibration algorithm. The method can be extended to simultaneously process information from a large number of images from a plurality of cameras that are arranged in a fixed position on a mobile robot, wherein the images are representative of different camera poses. The optimization thereby provides a highly accurate estimate of camera calibration parameters.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of PCT/EP2017/072505, filed Sep. 7,2017, titled “Method and system for calibrating multiple cameras,” theentire contents of which are hereby fully incorporated herein byreference for all purposes. Application PCT/EP2017/072505 claimspriority to European application EP16187719.6, filed Sep. 7, 2016, theentire contents of which are hereby fully incorporated herein byreference for all purposes.

FIELD

The invention relates to a method for calibration of cameras, inparticular cameras that are positioned on a mobile robot.

INTRODUCTION

Camera calibration is a necessary step in computer-based vision, sincecameras produce 2D images from observations in real-world 3D space. Thecalibration estimates parameters of a lens and image sensor of an imageor video camera.

The calibration involves estimating intrinsic and extrinsic parametersof the camera. Intrinsic calibration refers to metrics of the cameraitself, which describe the projection from 3D camera coordinates to 2Dimage coordinates (pixel coordinates) and the way a real lens systemdistorts those coordinates, compared to an ideal lens. The calibrationincludes parameters such as focal length and principal point of thepinhole camera model, and parameters of a lens distortion model.Extrinsic calibration on the other hand is done to determine theposition and orientation of cameras in 3D world coordinates. In otherwords, the extrinsic parameters determine the position and orientation(pose) of the camera in some coordinate system. When multiple camerasare calibrated simultaneously, extrinsic calibration can also determinethe relative position of the cameras.

A number of approaches are known for calibrating cameras, includingmethods that rely on 3D reference objects, methods that rely on theobservation of a planar pattern at one or more orientations, line-basedapproaches and self-calibration approaches that do not use a referencepoint but rather are based on a moving the camera within a static scene.Some of these approaches are summarized by Zhang (“Camera Calibration”,in G. Medioni & S. B. Kang, eds., Emerging Topics in Computer Vision,Prentice Hall 2004).

In practice, it is common to capture multiple images of a particularpattern, for example a checkerboard pattern, and determine thecorrespondence between 3D world coordinates and camera 2D coordinates.Following calibration, the accuracy of determined parameters can bedetermined by comparing relative position of the camera and calibrationpattern, by calculating reprojection errors and/or by estimatingparameter estimation errors.

SUMMARY

The present invention is specified in the claims as well as in the belowdescription. Preferred embodiments are particularly specified in thedependent claims and in the description of various embodiments.

The invention provides a method for calibrating at least one camera. Themethod comprises steps of (a) capturing at least one image of at leastone array pattern, said image comprising a plurality of interest pointsand a plurality of edges, with at least one camera for at least one poseof each at least one camera; (b) processing said at least one image todetermine a provisional location of at least one interest point on theat least one image; (c) refining the provisional position of said atleast one interest point on the at least one image; and (d) optimizingcamera calibration parameters based on the refined position of the atleast one interest point on the at least one image.

The invention also provides a method for calibrating at least one cameracomprising steps of (a) capturing at least one image of at least onearray pattern with at least one camera for at least one pose of the atleast one camera, wherein the image comprises a plurality of interestpoints; (b) processing said at least one image to determine aprovisional location of at least one interest point on the at least oneimage; (c) refining the provisional position of said at least oneinterest point on the at least one image; and (d) optimizing cameracalibration parameters based on the refined position of the at least oneinterest point on the at least one image.

The refining of the provisional location of the interest point can beachieved by (i) selecting a partial area of the image that includes atleast one interest point and at least a portion of at least two edgesthat meet at or near the interest point; (ii) defining at least a firstand second set of edge points representative of said at least twointersecting edges; (iii) applying regression analysis to the first andsecond sets of edge points, respectively; and (iv) determining a refinedposition of the at least one interest point as the intersection ofregression functions representative of the first and second sets of edgepoints.

Also provided and disclosed herein is a method of calibration of atleast one camera, comprising: (a) providing a mobile robot comprising aplurality of cameras that are fixedly mounted thereon; (b) providing atleast two geometrically fixed array patterns, each pattern comprising aplurality of interest points; (c) capturing a plurality of images of atleast a portion of said array patterns using said plurality of camerasfor a plurality of poses of the mobile robot; (d) determining theposition of a plurality of interest points within each of the arraypatterns for images captured in step (c), so as to generate a grid ofinterest points within each array pattern for different poses of themobile robot; and (e) process information from the images obtained instep d) so as to simultaneously optimize at least (i) the position ofthe cameras; (ii) the optical center of each of the cameras; and (iii)the focal length of each of the cameras.

Preferably, the optimizing comprises estimating parameter values thatdescribe at least one of: camera poses during the capturing of images;poses of the array patterns; poses of the plurality of cameras; andcamera properties for each of the plurality of cameras, preferably atleast optical center, focal length and distortion parameters of each ofthe cameras.

The invention also provides a method for detecting corners on an image.The image can preferably be an image of an array pattern. The arraypattern can be a pattern that contains identifiable corners that areregularly spaced within the pattern. The method comprises steps of (a)capturing at least one image of an array pattern comprising a pluralityof interest points with at least one camera; (b) processing said atleast one camera image to determine a provisional location of at leastone interest point on the at least one image; and (c) refining theprovisional position of said at least one interest point on the at leastone image. The refining is preferably done by (i) selecting a partialarea of the image that includes at least one interest point and at leasta portion of at least two edges that meet at or near the interest point;(ii) defining at least a first and second set of edge pointsrepresentative of said at least two intersecting edges; (iii) applyingregression analysis to the first and second sets of edge points,respectively; and (iv) determining a refined position of the at leastone interest point as the intersection of regression functionsrepresentative of the first and second sets of edge points. Alsoprovided is an image capture system comprising: at least one land-basedmobile robot; at least two cameras that are fixedly mounted on each saidat least one mobile robot; and a processing module, adapted to (i)receive and store image data obtained by the cameras of at least onearray pattern that comprises a plurality of interest points; (ii)process said image data to determine a provisional location of theinterest points on each captured image; (iii) refine the provisionallocation of the interest points by regression analysis of data pointsrepresentative of at least two edges that meet at or near the interestpoints, the refined location being determined as the intersection ofregression curves thereby obtained; and (iv) optimize camera calibrationparameters based on the refined position of the interest point.

In the present context, the term “camera image” or “image” should beunderstood to also mean “camera frame” or “camera frames” or “frames”.

The term “interest point”, in the present context, refers to a point inan image that can be characterized by at least: a) being clearly definedon the image, b) having a well-defined position in space, c) the localimage structure around the interest point being rich in terms of localinformation content, preferably so that it has significant texture (forexample, has a significant variety in pixel saturation) intwo-dimensional space, and d) the interest point is stable and/or notsensitive with respect to illumination and/or brightness variations,such that the interest point can be computed with high degree ofrepeatability. An exemplary interest point is a corner. Corners in turncan be considered to be defined as the meeting point or intersection oftwo or more edges in an image. Note, that interest points exist both onimages and on array patterns, and the present document refers to both as“interest point”. It is clear for the person skilled in the art which ismeant from the context.

In a preferred embodiment, the interest point is positioned at themeeting point of the edges. In some embodiments, the interest point isat the intersection of two or more edges. The partial area that isselected may surround the at least one interest point. As will beapparent from the following disclosure, an initial estimate of theposition of an interest point may be incorrect in that the initialestimate does not place the interest point at the intersection ormeeting point of two edges. One goal of the method disclosed herein isto provide a reliable position of the interest point, ideally such thatits refined position is a very good approximation of its true positionin the image which can be at the meeting point (or intersection) of twoor more edges.

Although the present invention is applicable for the calibration of anynumber of cameras, it is especially useful for the calibration ofmultiple cameras. Preferably, the invention relates to the simultaneouscalibration of a plurality of cameras, such as 2 or more cameras, 3 ormore cameras, 4 or more cameras, 5 or more cameras, 6 or more cameras or7 or more cameras. In some preferred embodiments, the number of camerasis in the range of 2 to 20, such as 3 to 15, such as 4 to 12, such as 5to 10, such as 7 to 10, especially 7 to 9 cameras. The cameras arepreferably arranged in a fixed position on a single structure or frame.Preferably, the structure is a mobile robot, in particular a land-basedmobile robot.

The calibration method of the invention is based on the processing ofimages that are captured by the cameras to be calibrated. Preferably, aplurality of images is captured. It is especially preferable to capturea plurality of images that represent different poses of the cameras withrespect to the calibration pattern.

In the present context, the term “pose” refers to the position andorientation of an object in three-dimensional space. One object of theinvention is therefore to determine the pose of each of the cameras thatare being calibrated. The term “position and tilt” is used herein as“pose”.

One or more images of the calibration pattern can be captured for afirst pose (first position/orientation) of the cameras. This process canbe repeated for a second pose of the cameras, a third pose of thecameras, and so on. This way, a series of images is captured,representing different poses of the cameras.

The images can be stored to a file following their capture. The imagescan be stored locally, e.g. on a memory card within the structure (e.g.,mobile robot or robot) on which the cameras are mounted. The images canalso be stored on a remote server, that can be wirelessly connectable tothe structure.

The images can also be processed in real-time as they are captured. Thismeans that features (e.g., corners) are detected and defined on theimages as they are captured, and the images subsequently deleted. Thishas the advantage that storage space and/or data upload requirements areminimized.

In some preferred embodiments, the robot can be autonomous and/orsemi-autonomous. That is, the robot can be adapted to navigate and/or todrive autonomously during the collection of data for the cameracalibration. The robot can also collect a portion of the data used inthe calibration. In some embodiments, the robot is adapted to navigateautonomously for at least 50% of the total operating time of thecalibration. In some other embodiments, when gathering image data forthe camera calibration, the robot can be remotely controlled by a remoteoperator. That is, the robot can be controlled and/or driven by a personand/or by a server and/or by a second processing component.

The robot can also be part of an assembly of robots, i.e. two or moremobile robots, the robots can be adapted to communicate, or exchangedata via their respective communication components, or communicate witha remote server.

In some embodiments, the camera calibration is performed on the mobilerobot or vehicle. Some or all of the steps of the calibration (exceptimage capture, since this is necessarily done on the robot) can also beperformed on a remote server. In such embodiments, the mobile robot orvehicle preferably has at least communication device for communicatingwith a remote server that carries out at least some steps of thecalibration process. For example, the image processing and determinationof refined corner positions can be performed on the robot, and theresults be provided together with other information such as robot pose(from gyroscope(s)) to a remote server. Subsequent optimization ofcamera calibration parameters can be performed on the remote server.

In a general sense, an interest point is any point on an image that hasa well-defined position and can be detected robustly. For example, theinterest point can be a local intensity maximum or minimum, a lineending or a local maximum or minimum along a curve.

A particularly useful interest point is a corner. Intuitively speaking,a corner can be considered to represent a junction of contours. For thepurpose of the present disclosure, a corner can generally be defined asthe intersection of two or more edges. Alternatively, a corner isdefined as a point for which there are two different edge directions inthe local neighborhood of the point (the corner).

As a consequence of the close relationship between the general conceptof an interest point and the specific concept of a corner, methods fordetecting corners can in many cases also be applied to detect othertypes of interest points.

There are methods known in the art for detecting corners. These includefor example the method by Harris and Stevens (Proceedings of the 4thAlvey Vision Conference, (1988) pp. 147-151), an improvement of anearlier method by Moravee (1980; Tech Report CMU-RI-TR-3 Carnegie MellonUniversity, Robotics Institute), both of which are hereby incorporatedby reference. Other methods include the Shi-Tomasi corner detector (Shi& Tomasi (1994), “Good Features to Track”, in 9^(th) IEEE Conf onComputer Vision and Pattern Recognition), the Forstner corner detector(Forstner & Gulch (1987), “A fast operator for detection and preciselocation of distinct points, corners and centres of circular features,ISPRS Intercommission Workshop), Wang & Brady (Image and VisionComputing (1998), 13:695-703), SUSAN (Smith & Brady, Int J ComputerVision (1997), 23:45-78) and Trajkovic and Hedley detector (Image andVision Computing (1998), 16: 75-87), all of which are herebyincorporated by reference.

Any suitable corner detector can in principle be used to provide aprovisional location of a corner on the array pattern. It can beparticularly useful to use the Harris corner detector. The Harrisalgorithm considers the differential of a corner score (which can bedefined as the smallest sum-of-square differences (SSD) between pixels)with respect to direction, i.e. it determines the derivative of theimage. In a “flat” region, i.e. a region with little change, there islittle or no change in any direction on the image. Along an edge, therewill be little or no change along the edge but large changesperpendicular to the edge. A corner, however, is characterized by alarge change in all directions moving away from the corner.

Mathematically, the detector considers the change in intensity in animage patch over an area (u, v) when shifted by (x, y):

${S\left( {x,y} \right)} = {\sum\limits_{u}{\sum\limits_{v}{{w\left( {u,v} \right)}\left( {{I\left( {{u + x},{v + y}} \right)} - {I\left( {u,v} \right)}} \right)^{2}}}}$

Where S represents the weighted sum of squared differences between thepatches. For patches that are constant or near-constant, the value of Swill be close to zero, whereas for a corner, S(x, y) will take on largevalues in all directions of (x y).

By approximating I (u+x, v+y) as a Taylor expansion, and by lettingI_(x) and I_(y) be partial derivatives of I, S(x,y) can be approximatedas

${{S\left( {x,y} \right)} \approx {\sum\limits_{u}{\sum\limits_{v}{{w\left( {u,v} \right)}\left( {{{I_{x}\left( {u,v} \right)}x} + {{I_{y}\left( {u,v} \right)}y}} \right)^{2}}}}},$which can be written as

${{S\left( {x,y} \right)} \approx {\left( {x\mspace{14mu} y} \right){A\begin{pmatrix}x \\y\end{pmatrix}}}},$where A denotes a structure tensor (a 2×2 matrix computed from imagederivatives):

$A = {{\sum\limits_{u}{\sum\limits_{v}{{w\left( {u,v} \right)}\begin{bmatrix}I_{x}^{2} & {I_{x}I_{y}} \\{I_{x}I_{y}} & I_{y}^{2}\end{bmatrix}}}} = \begin{bmatrix}\left\langle I_{x}^{2} \right\rangle & \left\langle {I_{x}I_{y}} \right\rangle \\\left\langle {I_{x}I_{y}} \right\rangle & \left\langle I_{y}^{2} \right\rangle\end{bmatrix}}$

The Harris detector therefore considers the x and y derivatives forpoints with a given center of mass. Corners are then characterized bylarge variations in S in all directions of the vector (x y).

The array pattern can in principle be any pattern comprising repeatedshapes that have substantially identical dimensions and include easilydetectable corners. The pattern can comprise alternating black and whiteshapes. Preferably, however, the pattern comprises images having variouscolors, which makes it easier to uniquely assign detected corners to aparticular position within the array. Preferably, the array pattern is alattice pattern that comprises squares and/or rectangles that havedifferent colors, but wherein each square or rectangle is uniformlycolored.

The array pattern can preferably be generally flat, or be provided on aflat surface. It can be preferable that the array pattern be provided onan essentially flat surface.

The pattern can comprise features, such as rectangles or squares, havingany plurality of colors, such as two or more, three or more, four ormore, five or more, six or more, seven or more, eight or more, nine ormore or ten or more colors. For example, the array pattern can comprisefrom 2 to 10 colors, from 3 to 9 colors, from 4 to 8 colors, from 5 to 7colors, or from 6 to 8 colors. The array pattern can, in certainembodiments, comprise 2 colors, 3 colors, 4 colors, 5 colors, 6 colors,7 colors, 8 colors or 9 colors. Preferably, however, each feature (e.g.,rectangle or square) is of uniform color.

The color arrangement in the pattern can preferably be arranged so as tominimize the number of interest points such as corners that have anidentical arrangement of color patterns surrounding the particularinterest point (e.g., corner). For example, consider the case where awhite square at its top left corner meets, in a clockwise order adjacentsquares that are purple, yellow and purple, respectively. Preferablythis square is unique to the pattern, i.e. there are no other cornershaving an identical arrangement of squares within the pattern. This way,once a corner has been identified, the color of squares adjacent to thesquare provides the unique position of the square within the pattern.

The array pattern can thus preferably be a color array that comprises anarray of features having different colors. The features can be of anyshape, but preferably have clear distinct edges so that their meetingpoint can be easily determined. The features can be of generallyrectangular shape. Preferably, however, the features are squares. Thefeatures are furthermore preferably uniformly shaded, i.e. there is nocolor or intensity gradient across the feature. It can be especiallypreferable that the array comprises a plurality of squares, each ofwhich being of uniform color, and wherein the squares are arranged inthe array such that four adjacent squares meet at a single corner. Note,that instead of squares, also non-square rectangles can be used for thepurpose of the invention.

The array pattern can in principle be of any size and shape, and containany number of squares or other shapes that have well defined corners. Inpractice however it can be useful to use a pattern that contains betweenabout 20 and 200 squares. Each square in the pattern can have width inthe range of 1 to 30 cm and a height of 1 to 30 cm. More preferably, thewidth and/or height of each square can be in the range of about 2 to 20cm, or about 3 to 15 cm.

The overall array pattern can have any suitable size. It can for examplebe useful that the overall pattern have a length of about 20 cm to 1000cm and a height of about 20 cm to 200 cm.

Once the provisional positions of interest points (e.g., corners) havebeen determined on an image, the positions can be refined. This ispreferably done by focusing on a subset of the image that surrounds andincludes the corner in question. Alternatively, the calibration of thecamera parameters can be performed directly, using the provisionalposition of the interest points.

The array pattern can in general comprise from 10 to 1000 interestpoints or more. It can be preferable that the pattern comprise fromabout 10 to 200 interest points, about 10 to 150 interest points, about10 to 100 interest points, or about 20 to 100 interest points. When morethan one array pattern is provided for the calibration, each of thearray patterns can comprise from 10 to 1000 interest points or more, orpreferably about 10 to 200 interest points, about 10 to 100 interestpoints or about 20 to 100 interest points.

The corner can be considered to represent the intersection of two ormore edges. Let's consider the case where the corner is represented bythe intersection of two edges. Two datasets can be extracted from theimage, based on an initial assumption about the position of the corner—afirst dataset, representing a first set of edge points defining thefirst edge, and a second dataset, representing a second set of edgepoints defining the second edge. Once the two sets of edge points havebeen extracted, regression analysis can be applied to the datasets, anda refined position of the corner at which the two edges meet defined bythe intersection of the two regression curves. Thereby, a refinedposition of the corner is determined. It can be convenient to apply alinear regression analysis to the two sets of edge points and therebydefine the refined corner location as the intersection of the two lines.

Defining two lines, that can preferably be orthogonal, the two datasetscan be defined as two sets of data points that are each closer to one ofthe two lines than the other. One of the two lines can be horizontal, orapproximately horizontal, with respect to the array pattern, and theother line can be vertical, or approximately vertical. Then, the twosets of edge points can be defined by their closeness to one of the twolines; a first set is closer to the “horizontal” line than the“vertical” line, and vice versa.

Edges can in general be defined or identified using methods known in theart. One such method is the Canny edge detector. This algorithm is basedon Gaussian smoothing of images. The algorithm smoothest an intensityimage and subsequently produces extended segments by following highgradient magnitudes from one neighborhood to another. The two edge pointdata sets can thus be generated and/or supplemented using the Canny edgedetection algorithm or other similar algorithms known in the art.

The process of determining sets of edge points can be repeated for arevised corner position, and the position of a further refined cornerdetermined as the intersection of two regression curves (e.g., linesobtained by linear regression) that are applied to the two sets of edgepoints defined in any such iteration. The process of detecting edgepoints and establishing a refined corner position as the intersection oflines that are fitted through the edge points (“horizontal” and“vertical”) can be repeated until there is little or no differencebetween a refined corner and the corner defined by the previousiteration, in which case the algorithm has converged to a stable valueand the refinement is completed.

Camera calibration involves the determination of various internal andexternal parameters that describe the camera properties. Cameracalibration parameters in general can comprise camera position, camerapose, camera optical center, camera focal length and camera distortionparameters. The intrinsic parameters can comprise camera focal length,camera optical center and camera distortion parameters. The extrinsicparameters can comprise camera position, camera pose.

Preferably, the camera calibration according to the invention determinesparameter values that describe at least one of: mobile robot poses forthe captured images; poses of the array patterns; poses of the cameras;and camera properties of each of the cameras, including optical center,focal length and distortion parameters.

In a preferred embodiment, the camera calibration determines parametersthat describe all of the foregoing, i.e. mobile robot poses for thecaptured images; poses of the array patterns; poses of the cameras; andoptical center, focal length and distortion parameters of each of thecameras.

In some embodiments, the mobile robot comprises at least one gyroscopefor determining robot pose. The robot can comprise a plurality ofgyroscopes, such as 2 or more gyroscopes, 3 or more gyroscopes or 4 ormore gyroscopes. It can be preferable that the robot comprise 4gyroscopes.

The camera calibration preferably determines and optimizes all of theforegoing parameters simultaneously. That is, based on the refinedpositions of corners on the array boards on all images captured for allof the cameras, the camera calibration parameters are simultaneouslyoptimized.

It can be preferable to fix the position of one array pattern. Thus, inan embodiment that comprises at least two array patterns, the positionof one of the array patterns is fixed to represent a reference of theworld frame during the optimization.

It can also be convenient to fix the position of one of the camerasduring the optimization. Then, the position of the other cameras can bedetermined relative to the fixed camera.

The cameras can preferably be mounted on an autonomous orsemi-autonomous robot. The robot can preferably be a land-based robot.The robot can have at least two cameras, preferably 3-15 cameras, morepreferably 5-15 cameras, more preferably 7-12, and even more preferably7-9 cameras.

A large number of poses of the mobile robot can be performed during thecalibration. Thus, it can be preferable that at least one image becaptured for 10 to 1000 poses, preferably 50 to 500 poses, morepreferably 100 to 300 poses, of each of the cameras.

At least two of the cameras can represent a pair of stereo cameras. Itcan be preferable to further refine the calibration of stereo camerasusing epipolar constraining. This can be done either during the cameracalibration or as a supplementary refinement following completion of thecamera calibration according to the invention.

Accordingly, the invention can comprise a further step, wherein thecalibration of any stereo cameras are further refined upon completion ofthe refining. It can be useful, during such further refinement, toneglect all other cameras on the mobile robot so as to maximize theprecision of the calibration of the stereo cameras.

Alternatively, epipolar constraints are incorporated in the cameracalibration algorithm as defined herein. In other words, in addition tothe camera calibration determining parameters that describe the mobilerobot poses for the captured images; poses of the array patterns; posesof the cameras; optical center, focal length and distortion parametersof each of the cameras; the calibration can optimize parameter valuesfor stereo cameras using epipolar constraints.

Prior to processing of camera images, it can be convenient to convertthe images to Lab color space. Thus, in certain embodiments of theinvention, prior to the processing images, the images are converted fromRGB color space to Lab color space. The conversion can be done on theimages as captured, or the conversion can be done on stored images.

In some embodiments, the camera calibration algorithm can comprise anoptimization routine that optimizes camera calibration parameters,including at least one mobile robot/vehicle pose and the position ofphysical objects based on extracted features (e.g., corners). Thealgorithm can use gyroscope information from the mobile robot todetermine mobile robot poses. That is, the algorithm can for exampletake one or a plurality of mobile robot poses, and optimize their valuesbased on the lines extracted from camera images. In some embodiments,the algorithm can also take data from other sensors into considerations,for example GPS sensor or other sensors listed above and below.

In some embodiments, each of the robot cameras can be adapted to capture3 to 5 images or frames per second, preferably 4 images or frames persecond.

In the following, there is provided a description of one preferredembodiment of the calibration method that can be implemented on aprocessing component of the robot or a remote server.

The calibration optimization can be implemented as a probabilisticalgorithm that takes certain input variables and returns certain outputvariables. Input variables can comprise the robot's pose, the refinedcorners detected on the images of the array patterns. The outputvariables can comprise, for example, robot poses during the calibrationprocess, poses of the array patterns, position and tilt of all cameras,and camera properties of each camera, such as optical center focallengths and distortion parameters. Note, that position and tilt refersin this document to the pose.

If multiple array patterns are used, the position of one board is fixedand serves as a reference for the world frame. Furthermore, it can beconvenient to also fix the position of one of the cameras, i.e. onlysearch for its optimal rotation. Accordingly, when applied to a robothaving N (e.g.: 9) cameras, the position of one of the cameras is fixed,and the position and rotation of the other N−1 (e.g.: 8) cameras isdetermined by the algorithm, as well as the rotation of the fixedcamera.

The algorithm compares what is observed (the corners on images) and whatwould be expected to see given certain parameter values (i.e. cameraproperties, etc.). Measured errors between what is seen and what isexpected are added up to get a number that is a measure of the qualityof the (optimized) parameters. Subsequently, parameter values arechanged in a smooth fashion to reduce the error until furtheroptimization does not lead to an improvement—the algorithm has found theoptimal (best) solution.

The optimization can be performed in an analogous manner to mapgeneration, where the “map” comprises the relevant poses of the robot,the cameras and/or the array patterns and/or camera properties. Let itbe assumed that the robot is driving through or in an area that hasvisible, fixed array patterns. The robot can be driving autonomously orsemi-autonomously, or the robot can be manually controlled. The robot'sgyroscope detectors provide rotation information and the cameras providecamera images. Potentially other readings that are useful for cameracalibration could be incorporated into the method. Two quantities can bedefined in this context: a “map” (M) and sensor readings (R). The valuesin M can include robot poses during the calibration process, poses ofthe array patterns, position and tilt of all cameras, and cameraproperties of each camera, such as optical center, focal lengths anddistortion parameters. The map M is therefore a collection of parametersthat constitute the camera calibration problem to be solved. The map canbe simply defined as a vector of numbers:M=(m ₁ , . . . ,m _(|M|))

The values of M are unknown in the problem; as a consequence, thesolution to the problem involves that of determining the values in M.The sensor readings R (gyroscope readings) can likewise be defined as avector of numbers,R=(y ₁ , . . . ,y _(|R|))

The vector is the result of an actual calibration run and is a constantquantity in the following Bayesian statement:

${P\left( M \middle| R \right)} = \frac{{P\left( R \middle| M \right)}{P(M)}}{P(R)}$

This statement is simply the Bayer theorem that establishes therelationship between conditional probabilities. It establishes therelationship between conditional probabilities P(A|B) (probability of Agiven B) and P(B|A) (probability of B given A). This is well known tothe person skilled in the art.

That is, if some map (i.e. parameters in M) was known, the relationshipof its probability given the sensor (gyroscope) readings to theprobability of having such readings or map independently at all could beestablished. These probabilities can be almost impossible to numericallyquantify. However, the exact values these probabilities are actually notneeded. Rather, we can find the “best” map, defined as:

$M_{BEST} = {\arg\;{\max\limits_{M \in {\mathbb{M}}}{P\left( M \middle| R \right)}}}$

This equation defines the map maximizing the probability given theobtained sensor readings and provides the best solution for theparameters in M. From a camera image, a series of refined corners areobtained. These corners correspond to landmarks on the map.

The map M contains parameters that define the pose of the robot(vehicle), the pose of each of the cameras (except for the position ofone camera which can be fixed) and the pose of the boards. The refinedcorners are features on each of the boards.

The map M can be considered to contain two parts: the path the robottook (i.e. the robot and camera poses during the collection of imagesused in the calibration) and the location of the landmarks (on the arraypatterns), so thatM=(M _(P) ,M _(L))

The association can be done as an iterative algorithm smoothly adjustinglandmark candidates and culling them as needed. For example, cornersthat seem to have large errors associated with them can be pruned by thealgorithm. Also, error capping can be used to remove (prune)associations that are deemed to be wrong.

The sensor readings obtained during a calibration run are constant.Therefore, in the original Bayesian statement, P(R)≈const. The quantityP(M) corresponds to the probability of getting a certain map M from theset of all possible maps. This set is unrestricted, and therefore verylarge. In practice, when looking at likely maps, only the ones that arerelatively close to the landmarks (corners) are considered. Theprobability of obtaining such M from the set of all maps is about thesame. Therefore, also P(M)≈const. What is left to estimate isP(M|R)∝P(R−M)

That is, the probability of the map given certain readings isproportional to the probability of the readings given the map. P(R|M)can be quantified in the following way. P(R|M) is the probability ofgetting sensor readings R if given map M. Sensor readings containerrors. A further approximation can be made by stating that the sensorreadings are approximately normally distributed, that isR˜N(μ,Σ)where μ are the error free values (ground truth that is not known) and Σis the covariance matrix that can be derived from the properties of thesensors and the readings taken.

The form of the probability P(R|M) can now be approximately stated as:

${{P\left( R \middle| M \right)} \cong {C_{w}e^{{- \frac{1}{2}}{({{\mu{(M)}} - R})}^{T}{\sum\limits_{\;}^{- 1}{({{\mu{(M)}} - R})}}}}},$where C_(w) contains the normalization constant. The goal is to maximizeP(M|R)—this is equivalent to maximizing the value P(R|M) or equivalentlyminimizing its negative logarithm:

${{\ln\;{P\left( R \middle| M \right)}} = {{{- \frac{1}{2}}\left( {{\mu(M)} - R} \right)^{T}{\sum^{- 1}\left( {{\mu(M)} - R} \right)}} + C_{L}}},{M_{BEST} = {\underset{M \in {\mathbb{M}}}{\arg\;\min}\left( {{\mu(M)} - R} \right)^{T}{\sum^{- 1}\left( {{\mu(M)} - R} \right)}}},{{S(M)} = {\left( {{\mu(M)} - R} \right)^{T}{\sum^{- 1}\left( {{\mu(M)} - R} \right)}}},$

So, to find the best map M_(BEST), the sum S(M) should be minimized. Theproblem of finding the best map has been reduced to one of nonlinearminimization. The process can run as an iterative optimization algorithmaiming to maximize the overall probability of obtaining a certain map,i.e. a certain set of parameters in M given the known sensor readings.

The calibration algorithm can be based on input of hundreds of robotposes. The array patterns or boards do not need to be observed by all ofthe cameras for every pose. In fact, some of the cameras may not seesome, or any, of the array patterns for some of the poses, while othercameras may not see some, or any, of the array patterns for other poses.Further, only a portion of each array pattern needs to be visible to anygiven camera at any given time. The identity of each particular cornerin an array pattern can be provided by the color arrangement ofsurrounding squares/rectangles.

The invention also relates to an image capture system. The image capturesystem can be adaptable to collect input data (e.g., images, gyroscopereadings) used in the calibration process.

The image capture system can preferably comprise at least one land-basedrobot that comprises a plurality of cameras that are fixedly mounted onthe mobile robot or vehicle.

The cameras of the robot can be for example similar to smartphonecameras. They can be adapted to capture 1-10 images per second, morepreferably 3-5 images per second or more preferably 4 images per second.The camera viewing angles can be 10°-120°, more preferably 40°-100°,more preferably 60° by 80°. The robot can comprise a plurality ofcameras. In a preferred embodiment, the robot comprises at least 4(four) cameras. In a more preferred embodiment, the robot comprises 9(nine) cameras. The cameras can be placed anywhere around the body ofthe robot, preferably in positions optimizing the viewing angles of thedifferent cameras. Some cameras can be stereo cameras. In a preferredembodiment, one pair of front cameras are stereo cameras. In a morepreferred embodiment, the robot comprises 4 (four) pairs of stereocameras. In this preferred embodiment, the stereo cameras are positionedin the front of the robot, on both sides of the robot and on the back ofthe robot. One more camera can be positioned in the front of the robot.The stereo cameras can be used to triangulate objects captured in thevisual images. Depth perception of the visual images can be improvedwith stereo cameras. The separation between the stereo cameras can be5-20 cm. In a preferred embodiment, the separation between each of thefront and back stereo cameras is 5-10 cm and the separation between thestereo cameras arranged on the side of the robot can be 15-20 cm. Thecameras can be placed on the robot so as to take landscape orientationvisual images and/or portrait orientation visual images. Landscapeorientation visual images can be understood to mean visual imageswherein the wider camera capture angle is approximately parallel to theground and the narrower camera capture angle is approximatelyperpendicular to the ground. In a preferred embodiment, the side andback cameras are placed in a portrait orientation and the front camerasare placed in a landscape orientation.

The processing module of the image capture system can be part of and/orcomprise a System on a Chip (SoC), for example similar to smartphoneprocessors. A memory component can be part of the same SoC. Theprocessing module can be adapted to determine at least a part of thecamera calibration using the visual images captured by the cameras.

The processing module can thus be on the robot. The processing modulecan also, or alternatively, be provided on a remote server.

The processing module can be adapted to determine refined cornerposition on images of the array patterns captured by the cameras. Therefined corners can subsequently be used in the optimization of cameracalibration parameters, as described in the method in the foregoing. Theprocessing module, when present on the robot, can be adapted to alsoperform the optimization. Alternatively, the robot supplies the refinedcorner positions to a remote server on which the processing module isprovided, preferably via a wireless connection. The images can be storedon the robot prior to the determination of the refined corners. Theimages can also be processed in real-time and subsequently deleted frommemory to save storage space. Information about refined corner positionscan be stored in a memory component of the robot. The information canalso be provided in real time to a remote server and not saved on therobot.

The result from the calibration process, i.e. the values in M, can besaved onto a memory component of the robot. Alternatively, oradditionally, the result is downloaded onto a memory component on aremote server.

The cameras on the robot can take visual images of the robot'ssurroundings during its roving in an operating area. The cameras can beadapted to take images with a frequency of 1 to 10 images per second,such as 2 to 8 images per second, or 3 to 7 images per second, or 3 to 5images per second, or 4 to 6 images per second. In one embodiment, thecameras are adapted to take images at a frequency of 4 images persecond. Preferably, image capture is performed continuously during datacollection (for camera calibration at the described frequency, i.e. therobot is preferably adapted to take images continuously using at leastone, and preferably all, of the cameras during this operation. Thevisual images can then be combined into one file and preprocessed.Preferably, the images from different cameras are taken simultaneously.This can mean that the time difference between the images from differentcameras is considerably shorter than the time difference betweensuccessive images that are processed. After preprocessing, a filecontaining preprocessed image data can be separated into individualimage files representing the different cameras, and straight lines usedfor robot localization can be extracted from the individual images.

The robot can further comprise a communication component adapted toexchange data with one or more server, particularly image and/orcalibration (map) data. The server can comprise multiple servers and/ora cluster of servers and/or one or more cloud servers. In one preferredembodiment, the server is a cloud server. In another embodiment, theserver comprises a cluster of servers, some of which can be cloudservers. The server can store, analyze and/or send out data, such as forexample map and localization related data. The server can also performcalculations, for example the server can perform the optimization partof the algorithm. The communication component can comprise at least oneslot for a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM card), preferably two slotsfor two SIM cards. The use of two SIM cards is an advantage, since itincreases reliability and allows for simultaneous communication via bothSIM cards for larger and/or faster data transmission. In a preferredembodiment, two different mobile operators are used for operation usingthe two SIM cards. In this case, if one mobile operator does not providecoverage in some part of the robot's area of operation, the robot canstill communicate via the other SIM card. The communication componentcan also comprise a different wireless communication standard than a SIMcard. The communication component can comprise a wireless modem.

The robot can further be adapted to receive navigation instructions fromthe server at specific intervals and/or after requesting input from theserver. In one embodiment, the robot receives navigation instructionsevery 50-150 meters. The robot can further send a request for input tothe server when faced with an unfamiliar situation. The robot can alsorequest manual input about its navigation, for example when facinghazardous conditions such as crossing a street. During such manualoperation, a remote operator can provide navigation instructions to therobot and direct it through the hazard, such as across the street. Oncethe robot has reached a safe environment, the operator can instruct therobot to resume autonomous navigation. The operator can furthercommunicate with people in the immediate surroundings of the robotthrough the microphone and speakers that can be mounted on the robot.The robot can however continue to update its localization during manualcontrol.

The present invention is also defined by the following numberedembodiments.

-   -   1. A method of calibrating at least one camera, the method        comprising steps of:        -   a. capturing at least one image of at least one array            pattern, said image comprising a plurality of interest            points, with at least one camera for at least one pose of            each of the at least one camera;        -   b. processing said at least one image to determine a            provisional location of at least one interest point on the            at least one image;        -   c. refining the provisional position of said at least one            interest point on the at least one image by:            -   i. selecting a partial area of the image that includes                at least one interest point and at least a portion of at                least two edges that meet at or near the interest point,            -   ii. defining at least a first and second set of edge                points representative of said at least two edges;            -   iii. applying regression analysis to the first and                second sets of edge points, respectively;            -   iv. determining a refined position of the at least one                interest point as the intersection of regression                functions representative of the first and second sets of                edge points; and        -   d. optimizing camera calibration parameters based on the            refined position of the at least one interest point on the            at least one image.    -   2. The method of the previous embodiment, wherein the optimizing        comprises estimating parameter values that describe at least one        or a combination of:        -   poses of the array pattern(s);        -   poses of the plurality of cameras; and        -   camera properties for each of the plurality of cameras,            preferably at least optical center, focal length and            distortion parameters of each of the cameras.    -   3. The method of the previous embodiment, wherein the optimizing        comprises estimating and simultaneously optimizing parameter        values that describe at least:        -   mobile robot poses during the capturing of images;        -   poses of the array patterns;        -   poses of the plurality of cameras; and        -   camera properties for each of the plurality of cameras,            preferably at least optical center, focal length and            distortion parameters of each of the cameras.    -   4. The method of any one of the previous embodiments, wherein        during the optimizing, the position of at least one camera is        fixed.    -   5. The method of any one of the previous embodiments, wherein        during the optimizing, the pose of at least one array pattern is        fixed.    -   6. The method of any one of the previous four embodiments,        wherein prior to the optimizing in step (d), the position of the        at least one interest point is further refined by repeating        steps ii-iv at least once again.    -   7. The method of the previous embodiment, wherein the refining        is further repeated until a converging position of the interest        point is reached.    -   8. The method of any one of the previous embodiments, wherein        the at least first and second set of edge points are defined by        -   i. applying an edge detection algorithm to the image data in            the region of interest to generate a set of edge points that            includes the at least two intersecting edges;        -   j. defining at least two lines that intersect at the            provisional interest point; and        -   k. categorizing the set of edge points into at least a first            and a second set of edge points based on the distance of the            edge points within each set to each of the lines, such that            the edge points within a first set are closer to one of the            lines than to any other line defined in step b).    -   9. The method of the previous embodiment, wherein the two lines        are orthogonal.    -   10. The method of any one of the previous embodiments, wherein        the at least one camera comprises at least two cameras that are        fixedly arranged on a mobile robot.    -   11. The method of any one of the previous embodiments, wherein        the at least one camera is fixedly arranged on an autonomous or        semi-autonomous land-based robot.    -   12. The method of any one of the previous embodiments,        comprising capturing a plurality of images by at least two        cameras, preferably 3-12 cameras, more preferably 5-10 cameras,        and even more preferably 7-9 cameras.    -   13. The method of any one of the previous embodiments, wherein        the image is stored as a camera image file, and wherein the        processing is based on the image file.    -   14. The method of any one of the previous embodiments, further        comprising repeating steps a-c for at least two poses of each        camera, and optimizing camera calibration parameters from the        refined location of interest point obtained from images captured        for the at least two poses.    -   15. The method of any one of the previous embodiments, wherein        the optimizing is performed by simultaneously optimizing camera        calibration parameters for all of the cameras.    -   16. The method of any one of the previous embodiments, wherein        at least one image is captured for each of 10 to 1000 poses,        preferably 50 to 500 poses, more preferably 100 to 300 poses, of        each of the cameras, and wherein the optimizing is performed by        simultaneously optimizing camera calibration parameters for all        of the cameras across all of the poses.    -   17. The method of any one of the previous embodiments, wherein        the calibration parameters comprise intrinsic and extrinsic        camera calibration parameters.    -   18. The method of any one of the previous embodiments, wherein        the extrinsic and intrinsic camera calibration parameters        comprise camera position, camera pose, camera optical center,        camera focal length and camera distortion parameters.    -   19. The method of any one of the previous embodiments and        comprising features of embodiment 10, wherein the at least two        cameras comprise at least one pair of stereo cameras.    -   20. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising        refining the stereo calibration of the at least one pair of        stereo cameras upon completion of the optimizing.    -   21. The method of any one of the previous embodiments, wherein        the interest point is a corner.    -   22. The method of any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein        the array pattern comprises a plurality of squares, and wherein        the interest point is a corner at the meeting point of four        squares on the pattern.    -   23. The method of any one of the previous embodiments, wherein        prior to the processing in step (b), the image file is converted        from RGB color space to Lab color space.    -   24. The method of any previous embodiment, wherein the        provisional location is determined by analysis of the derivative        of signal intensities in at least a portion of the image.    -   25. The method of any one of the previous embodiments, wherein        the at least one array pattern is provided on a planar surface,        the pattern comprising a plurality of rectangles or squares.    -   26. The method of any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein        the array pattern comprises a plurality of squares having        identical dimensions and that are arranged in adjacent positions        such that at least two sides of each square meets a side of an        adjacent square, each square having a uniform color, and wherein        the pattern comprises squares having two or more colors.    -   27. The method of any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein        the array pattern comprises from 10 to 100 interest points.    -   28. The method of any one of the previous two embodiments,        wherein the pattern comprises squares or rectangles of three or        more different colors, four or more different colors, five or        more different colors, or six or more different colors.    -   29. The method of any one of the previous three embodiments,        wherein the pattern comprises squares or rectangles of 4 to 10        colors, preferably from 5 to 9 colors, more preferably from 6 to        8 colors.    -   30. The method of any one of the previous four embodiments,        wherein the pattern comprises squares that are arranged so as to        minimize the number of corners having an identical color        arrangement about the corner, and preferably so that the color        arrangement of squares around each corner in the pattern is        unique within the pattern.    -   31. The method of any one of the previous embodiments, wherein        prior to the optimizing, the refined location of each interest        point is uniquely assigned based on the color pattern in the        array.    -   32. The method of any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein        regression analysis comprises performing linear regression of        edge points representative of the predicted edges, and wherein        the refined location of each interest point is determined as the        intersection of lines obtained by the linear regression analysis        of the edge points.    -   33. An image capture system comprising        -   a. at least one land-based mobile robot;        -   b. at least two cameras that are fixedly mounted on each            said at least one mobile robot;        -   c. a processing module, adapted to            -   i. receive and store image data obtained by the cameras                of at least one array pattern that comprises a plurality                of interest points;            -   ii. process said image data to determine a provisional                location of the interest points on each captured image;            -   iii. refine the provisional location of the interest                points by regression analysis of data points                representative of at least two edges that meet at or                near the interest points, the refined location being                determined as the intersection of regression curves                thereby obtained; and            -   iv. optimize camera calibration parameters based on the                refined position of the interest points.    -   34. The image capture system of the previous embodiment wherein        the mobile robot further comprises a communication module.    -   35. The image capture system of the previous embodiment, wherein        the processing module is on a server that is in communication        with the land-based mobile robot via the communication module.    -   36. The image capture system of embodiment 33, wherein the        land-based mobile robot comprises the processing module.    -   37. The image capture system of any one of the previous four        embodiments, wherein the land-based mobile robot comprises at        least three cameras.    -   38. The image capture system of any one of the previous five        embodiments, wherein the land-based mobile robot comprises nine        cameras.    -   39. The image capture system of any one of the previous six        embodiments, wherein the land-based mobile robot is an        autonomous or semi-autonomous robot.    -   40. A method of detecting interest points on an image of an        array pattern, the method comprising steps of:        -   a. capturing at least one image of an array pattern            comprising a plurality of interest points with at least one            camera;        -   b. processing said at least one camera image to determine a            provisional location of at least one interest point on the            at least one image;        -   c. refining the provisional position of said at least one            interest point on the at least one image by:            -   i. selecting a partial area of the image that includes                at least one interest point and at least a portion of at                least two edges that meet at or near the provisional                position of the interest point,            -   ii. defining at least a first and second set of edge                points representative of said at least two edges;            -   iii. applying regression analysis to the first and                second sets of edge points, respectively;            -   iv. determining a refined position of the at least one                interest point as the intersection of regression                functions representative of the first and second sets of                edge points.    -   41. The method of the preceding embodiment, wherein the array        pattern comprises a plurality of squares, and wherein the        interest point is a corner at the meeting point of four squares        on the pattern.    -   42. The method of any one of the previous two embodiments,        wherein prior to the processing in step (b), the image is        converted to Lab color space.    -   43. The method of any one of the previous three embodiment,        wherein the provisional location is determined by analysis of        the derivative of signal intensities in at least a portion of        the image.    -   44. The method of any one of the previous four embodiments,        wherein the at least one array pattern is provided on a planar        surface, the pattern comprising a plurality of squares.    -   45. The method of any one of the preceding five embodiments,        wherein the pattern comprises a plurality of rectangles or        squares having identical dimensions and that are arranged in        adjacent positions such that at least two sides of each        rectangle or square meets a side of an adjacent square, each        square having a uniform color, and wherein the pattern comprises        rectangles or squares having two or more colors.    -   46. The method of any one of the preceding six embodiments,        wherein the array pattern comprises from 10 to 100 interest        points.    -   47. The method of any one of the previous two embodiments,        wherein the array pattern comprises squares of three or more        different colors, four or more different colors, five or more        different colors, or six or more different colors.    -   48. The method of any one of the previous three embodiments,        wherein the array pattern comprises from 4 to 10 colors,        preferably from 5 to 9 colors, more preferably from 6 to 8        colors.    -   49. The method of any one of the previous four embodiments,        wherein the array pattern comprises rectangles or squares that        are arranged so as to minimize the number of corners at the        meeting point of multiple rectangles or squares having an        identical color arrangement about the corner, and preferably so        that the color arrangement of the rectangles or squares around        each corner in the pattern is unique within the pattern.    -   50. A method of calibration of at least one camera, comprising:        -   a. Providing a mobile robot comprising a plurality of            cameras that are fixedly mounted thereon;        -   b. providing at least two geometrically fixed array            patterns, each pattern comprising a plurality of interest            points;        -   c. capturing a plurality of images of at least a portion of            said array patterns using said plurality of cameras for a            plurality of poses of the mobile robot;        -   d. determining the position of a plurality of interest            points within each of the array patterns for images captured            in step (c), so as to generate a grid of interest points            within each array pattern for different poses of the mobile            robot; and        -   e. process image information from step d. so as to            simultaneously optimize at least            -   i. position of said plurality of cameras;            -   ii. optical center of each of said plurality of cameras;                and            -   iii. focal length of each of said plurality of cameras.    -   51. The method of the previous embodiment, wherein the        optimizing comprises estimating parameter values that describe        at least one of:        -   i. mobile robot poses during the capturing of images;        -   ii. poses of the array patterns;        -   iii. poses of the plurality of cameras; and        -   iv. camera properties for each of the plurality of cameras,            preferably at least optical center, focal length and            distortion parameters of each of the cameras.    -   52. The method of any one of the previous two embodiments,        wherein during the optimizing, the position of at least one        camera is fixed.    -   53. The method of any one of the previous three embodiments,        wherein during the optimizing the pose of one array pattern is        fixed.    -   54. The method of any one of the previous three embodiments,        wherein determination of the position of the interest point on        an image is carried out by:        -   a. processing an image to determine a provisional location            of at least one interest point on the image;        -   b. refining the provisional position of said at least one            interest point the images by:            -   i. selecting a partial area of the image that surrounds                the at least one interest point and includes at least a                portion of at least two edges that meet at the interest                point,            -   ii. defining at least a first and second set of edge                points representative of said at least two intersecting                edges;            -   iii. applying regression analysis to the first and                second sets of edge points, respectively; and            -   iv. determining a refined position of the at least one                interest point as the intersection of regression                functions representative of the first and second sets of                edge points.    -   55. The method of embodiment 50, wherein prior to the optimizing        in step (d), the position of the at least one interest point is        further refined by repeating steps ii-iv at least once.    -   56. The method of the previous embodiment, wherein the refining        is further repeated until a converging position of the interest        point is reached.    -   57. The method of any one of the previous three embodiments,        wherein the at least first and second set of edge points are        defined by        -   i. applying an edge detection algorithm to the image data in            the region of interest to generate a set of edge points that            includes the at least two intersecting edges;        -   j. defining at least two lines that intersect at the            provisional interest point; and        -   k. categorizing the set of edge points into at least a first            and a second set of edge points based on the geometric            distance of the edge points within each set to each of the            lines, such that the edge points within a first set are            closer to one of the lines than to any other line defined in            step b).    -   58. The method of the previous embodiment, wherein the two lines        are orthogonal.    -   59. The method of any one of the previous embodiments 50 to 58,        wherein the at least one camera is fixedly arranged on an        autonomous or semi-autonomous land-based robot.    -   60. The method of any one of the previous embodiments 50 to 59,        wherein the mobile robot comprises at least two cameras,        preferably 3-12 cameras, more preferably 5-10 cameras, and even        more preferably 7-9 cameras.    -   61. The method of the previous embodiment, wherein the mobile        robot comprises at least one pair of stereo cameras.    -   62. The method of any one of the previous embodiments 50 to 61,        wherein images captured by the cameras are stored as camera        image files, and wherein the processing is based on such stored        image files.    -   63. The method of any one of the previous embodiments 50 to 62,        further comprising repeating steps a-c for at least two poses of        each camera on the robot, and optimizing camera calibration        parameters from the refined location of interest point obtained        from images captured for the at least two poses.    -   64. The method of any one of the previous embodiments 50 to 63,        wherein the optimizing is performed by simultaneously optimizing        camera calibration parameters for all of the cameras.    -   65. The method of any one of the previous embodiments 50 to 64,        wherein during the optimizing, the position of at least one        camera is fixed.    -   66. The method of any one of the previous embodiments 50 to 65,        wherein at least one image is captured for 10 to 1000 poses,        preferably 50 to 500 poses, more preferably 100 to 300 poses,        for each of the cameras, and wherein the optimizing is performed        by simultaneously optimizing camera calibration parameters for        all of the cameras across all of the poses.    -   67. The method of any one of the previous embodiments 50 to 66,        wherein the calibration parameters comprise intrinsic and        extrinsic camera calibration parameters.    -   68. The method of any one of the preceding embodiments 50 to 67,        wherein the camera calibration parameters comprise camera        position, camera pose, camera optical center, camera focal        length and camera distortion parameters.    -   69. The method of any one of the previous embodiments 50 to 68,        wherein the interest point is a corner.    -   70. The method of any one of the preceding embodiments 50 to 69,        wherein the array pattern comprises a plurality of squares, and        wherein the interest point is a corner at the meeting point of        four squares on the pattern.    -   71. The method of any one of the previous embodiments 50 to 70,        wherein prior to the processing in step (b), the image file is        converted from RGB color space to Lab color space.    -   72. The method of any one of the previous embodiments 50 to 71,        wherein an initial location of the interest point is determined        by analysis of the derivative of signal intensities in at least        a portion of the image.    -   73. The method of any one of the previous embodiments 50 to 72,        wherein the at least one array pattern is provided on a planar        surface, the pattern comprising a plurality of squares.    -   74. The method of any one of the preceding embodiments 50 to 73,        wherein the array pattern comprises a plurality of squares        having identical dimensions and that are arranged in adjacent        positions such that at least two sides of each square meets a        side of an adjacent square, each square having a uniform color,        and wherein the pattern comprises squares having two or more        colors.    -   75. The method of any one of the preceding embodiments 50 to 74,        wherein the array pattern comprises from 10 to 100 interest        points.    -   76. The method of any one of the previous two embodiments,        wherein the pattern comprises squares of three or more different        colors, four or more different colors, five or more different        colors, or six or more different colors.    -   77. The method of any one of the previous three embodiments,        wherein the pattern comprises from 4 to 10 colors, preferably        from 5 to 9 colors, more preferably from 6 to 8 colors.    -   78. The method of any one of the previous four embodiments,        wherein the pattern comprises squares that are arranged so as to        minimize the number of corners at the meeting point of multiple        squares having an identical color arrangement about the corner,        and preferably so that the color arrangement of squares around        each corner in the pattern is unique within the pattern.    -   79. The method of any one of the previous embodiments 50 to 78,        wherein prior to the optimizing, the refined location of each        interest point is uniquely assigned based on the color pattern        in the array.    -   80. The method of any one of the preceding embodiments 50 to 79,        wherein regression analysis comprises performing linear        regression of edge points representative of the predicted edges,        and wherein the refined location of each interest point is        determined as the intersection of lines obtained by the linear        regression analysis of the edge points.

The above features along with additional details of the invention, aredescribed further in the examples below, which are intended to furtherillustrate the invention but are not intended to limit its scope in anyway.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The skilled person will understand that the drawings, described below,are for illustration purposes only. The drawings are not intended tolimit the scope of the present teachings in any way.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic overview of a corner refinement processaccording to the invention.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic representation of a calibration pattern thatcan be used in the method according to the invention.

FIG. 3 shows images representing different stages of the cornerrefinement process.

FIG. 4 shows a representation of two array patterns that can be used inthe method according to the invention.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic representation of collection of calibrationdata according to the invention.

FIG. 6 shows a schematic overview of a camera calibration processaccording to the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS EMBODIMENTS

In the following, exemplary embodiments of the invention will bedescribed, referring to the figures. These examples are provided toprovide further understanding of the invention, without limiting itsscope.

In the following description, a series of steps are described. Theskilled person will appreciate that unless required by the context, theorder of steps is not critical for the resulting configuration and itseffect. Further, it will be apparent to the skilled person thatirrespective of the order of steps, the presence or absence of timedelay between steps can be present between some or all of the describedsteps.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is schematically shown a process for refiningthe location estimate of interest points on an array pattern. In thespecific example shown, determination of corners on array pattern(s)that comprise a plurality of rectangles and/or squares is shown. Thearray pattern can also comprise a plurality of rectangles of uniform ornon-uniform shape and size, or a combination of squares and rectangles.Other shapes are also possible within the array pattern. Thus, as willbe appreciated, the method can be applied for determining the locationof any type of interest point on an array pattern.

In a first step 11, images are obtained by one or more camera on themobile robot. Typically, the mobile robot will contain a number ofcameras, and the goal of the process is to optimize camera parameters(including pose of cameras, mobile robot, arrays, camera parameters).For this purpose, images are captured for a plurality of poses of thecameras, since that will provide additional constraints during therefinement process. The cameras do not need to see all of the arrayssimultaneously. Also the cameras do not need to see entire arrays—imagesthat include a portion of an array can also be used for the calibrationalgorithm.

Images that are captured can be stored 12 for subsequent processing.This is however an optional step, since images can also be processed inreal-time and subsequently deleted from memory. In such a scenario,there is no need to store the images in memory.

The images can be stored on the mobile robot itself or on a remoteserver. Images can also be transiently stored on the mobile robot, anddeleted after transfer of image files from the mobile robot to theserver. Images can be stored and/or transferred immediately followingthe capture of each image. Alternatively, images are captured for aplurality of poses (up to hundreds of poses), stored on the mobile robotand transferred to a remote server for processing after all images thatwill be used for the calibration process have been captured.

In a third step 13, a corner detection algorithm is applied to thestored image(s). In an intermediate step, it can be preferable toconvert images from an RGB color space to Lab color space. In Lab colorspace, colors are defined by three variables, where L represents thelightness of the color, which is sometimes referred to as color value orcolor tone, and represents the perception of the brightness of colors inthe color space. The other two parameters in this color space are a andb, which represent color-opponent dimensions in the color space. Anadvantage of the Lab color space is that it includes all perceivablecolors, which is advantageous over other color spaces such as RGB orCMYK.

In principle, any known corner detection algorithm can be used to detectthe initial location of the corners. It can be useful to use the Harriscorner detection algorithm, which is based on the derivative of theimage (i.e., differential changes in the image across the differentcolor patterns).

Following the initial detection of corners, the position of the detectedcorners is refined. For this purpose, a portion of an image thatincludes at least one corner is selected as shown in 14. Edges that meetat the corner are detected 15, and this can be done by for exampleassuming that the initially determined corner is at the crossing pointof two lines. Two edges can be defined based on such lines—one edgecontains data points (edge points) that are closer to one line than theother, and vice versa, as further illustrated with respect to FIG. 3below.

Once the edge points have been determined, regression analysis 16 can beperformed on the edge points. For example, linear regression can beperformed on each set of edge points, resulting in two straight lines.

The two lines intersect at a refined corner position as shown in 17.This position represents a new (improved) estimate of the true cornerlocation. Steps 15-17 can be repeated until the position of the cornerconverges, i.e. regression analysis of edge points defined after eachiteration does not lead to a determined (refined) corner location thatis markedly different from the position determined in a previous roundof the refinement process. When this occurs, the corner position hasbeen refined.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary calibration pattern that can be used torealize the invention. The pattern comprises 30 squares, each of whichis uniformly colored so that each corner in the pattern is unique—i.e.each corner is defined by a unique pattern of colors around the corner.For example, take the corner flanked by the four squares in the top leftpart of the pattern; the colors are, starting from top left going in ananti-clockwise direction: 1-2-1-2. The next corner to the right on thepattern is flanked by a different color pattern: 2-1-3-1, and so on.Each corner in the internal portion of the pattern is therefore uniquelyidentifiable by the color pattern surrounding it.

The invention can be performed using different array patterns.Preferably, the array patterns have uniquely identifiable corners, butcan otherwise be of any size and shape. The array pattern is preferablydesigned such that it maximizes the number of features/corners that canbe observed while not being overly large and cumbersome to arrangeand/or transport. It can be preferable that the array pattern compriserectangles and/or squares, since those meet at junctions (corners) thatare uniquely identifiable in a straight-forward manner.

In FIG. 3, there is shown a sequence of images that focus on one regionof interest (ROI) of a calibration image, and that is centered on aninterest point, in this case a corner.

In (A) a portion of an image is shown, centering on a region thatincludes one corner 50. A corner detection algorithm is run on the imagedata in the ROI, resulting in a detected corner which is shown by a dot51 on the image in (B). As an example, the Harris corner detector can berun to establish this initial estimate of the corner.

As an initial guess, it is thus estimated that the actual corner is inthe position originally detected, with perfectly horizontal andperfectly vertical edges passing through it, as shown in (C). Based onthis (inaccurate) assumption, edge points in the image are defined anddivided into two data sets: one set 55 that lies close to a horizontalline 53, and a second set 54 that lines close to a vertical line 52(shown in (D). The two lines intersect at the originally estimatedcorner location. For this purpose, an edge detection algorithm such asthe Canny edge detector can be used, to (a) define the edge points and(b) divide the edge points into two edges.

Lines 57, 58 are subsequently fitted to data points 54, 55 in each ofthe edge point data sets, as shown in (E), where the fitted linesintersect to define a refined corner location 56. The edge points areagain determined as in step (D), i.e. as two sets, each of whichcontains edge data points that are closer to one of the previouslydetermined lines than the other resulting in two data sets 59, 60, thatlie close to “horizontal” and “vertical” lines, respectively, asindicated in (F). Lines 61, 62 are then fitted to data sets 59, 60, asshown in (G). The lines intersect at a refined corner 63.

The position of the refined corner 63 differs very little from theprevious position of the corner 56 found in the previous iteration. As aconsequence, the corner detection has converged to a stable value,completing the refinement. The final result of the corner detection isshown in (H), including the two fitted lines representing each edge andthe refined corner position 63.

FIG. 4 shows an example of an array configuration that can be useful forcalibrating cameras on a moving vehicle, such as a mobile robot. Thepatterns 20 and 30 are arranged on adjacent walls W1, W2. Although notessential, it is preferable that the patterns be flat. The patterns canbe printed on boards that are subsequently mounted or fixed on walls.This can be very convenient in practice, since the calibration boardscan be moved between locations for calibration purposes. The only strictrequirement is that the boards be stationary during data acquisition.

Turning to FIG. 5, it is shown how calibration data can be collected.Shown is a top view of a mobile robot 100 that is positioned inproximity of two calibration boards 20, 30, for example boards that havebeen mounted as shown in FIG. 4. The robot comprises five cameras 21,22, 23, 24 and 25. The camera angle of each of the cameras is indicatedwith dashed lines extending from the position of the respective camera.Although only indicated as an exemplary configuration, it is shown howthe viewing angles of the cameras are partially overlapping, inparticular those of the front cameras 21, 22, 23. The front centercamera 22 can be fixed, and the position of the other cameras determinedwith respect to that camera. The two other front cameras 21, 23 can alsorepresent a stereo camera pair.

During data acquisition, the robot can be put in a first position,indicated with (a) on FIG. 5. After taking an image with the cameras forthis orientation, the robot can be moved to a second position (b), andimage acquisition repeated. This process is repeated for a thirdposition (c), and preferably for additional positions of the robot. Thedifferent positions can represent rotational and/or translationalmovement of the robot in the vicinity of the calibration boards. Inpractice, it is useful that at least one of the boards be at leastpartially visible for at least one of the cameras. If data collectionfor the calibration results in camera frames/images that do not containany useful information (i.e. no useful images of any of the arraypatterns by the cameras), then those frames can simply be discardedprior to analyzing the data.

The data acquisition results in the collection of images that preferablyincludes at least one image for each camera for each camera pose duringdata acquisition process. At least a portion of at least one board isideally visible to at least one camera for each pose. The minimumportion shown should include at least three corners that represent bothdimensions on the board (i.e. not three collinear corners). Morerealistically, one or both of the boards will be visible to most of thecameras for a large proportion of the obtained images.

Image files can be sent to a server for processing offline, i.e. not onthe robot. However, the method does not require off-line processing, andboth image processing, including corner detection, and cameracalibration could in principle be done on the robot. In someembodiments, corner detection and corner refinement is performed on therobot and subsequent optimization performed on a remote server, usingthe refined corner position as an input.

Image files can be transferred to a server for processing andoptimization of camera parameters. Corner detection and refinement ispreferably done with the method as described in the foregoingdescription and illustrated in the above for FIG. 1.

The output of the corner detection method includes the location of thecorners on each image obtained for each of the cameras. The calibrationalgorithm seeks to optimize the following parameters:

-   -   robot pose during the calibration    -   poses of the marker boards    -   position and tilt of all cameras    -   camera properties, including optical center, focal length and        preferably also distortion parameters

Ideally, at least two marker boards are used for the calibration. Inthis instance, it can be convenient to fix the position of one of themarker boards and use that as a frame of reference of the position ofthe other boards. In a similar fashion, it is convenient to fix theposition of one of the cameras on the robot, and determine the positionof the other cameras with respect to the fixed camera. As a consequence,only the tilt of the fixed camera needs to be determined.

The calibration process determines all parameters related to the abovesimultaneously. In FIG. 6, a schematic overview of the process is shown.In an initial step 40, a series of images of the calibration board(s)are captured by the cameras on the robot. An exemplary calibration boardis shown in FIG. 2, although the skilled person will appreciate thatother configurations of the pattern of the board is conceivable.Preferably, there can be two or more boards used for the calibration,for example boards that are arranged in a pattern as shown in FIG. 4.Each of the images is stored to a file, either locally (on the robot)or, more preferably, on a remote server. In a next step 41, the positionof corners on the calibration boards are determined. This can preferablybe done by a refinement method as described in the above and illustratedin FIG. 3.

An initial estimate for robot pose can be provided by gyroscope data (toprovide rotational information) 42. The algorithm subsequentlycalculates a first estimate of calibration parameters 43, as describedin the above. Error estimation is subsequently performed based onobservables and the estimated parameters, as indicated in 44. Thisresults in a determination of whether the parameters as determinedprovide a better estimate of the true parameters, based on theobservables. If the errors are still being reduced, the calibrationparameters are refined, i.e. step 43 and step 44 are repeated. This isdone until there is no further optimization possible, and repeatedrounds of estimation and error analysis indicate that an optimalestimate of the parameters has been reached.

Although not shown in this flowchart, there can also be a step of errorcapping to remove wrong association. There can also be a step ofremoving (pruning) corners that have large errors associated with themand do not fit the other data.

As used herein, including in the claims, singular forms of terms are tobe construed as also including the plural form and vice versa, unlessthe context indicates otherwise. Thus, it should be noted that as usedherein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include pluralreferences unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

Throughout the description and claims, the terms “comprise”,“including”, “having”, and “contain” and their variations should beunderstood as meaning “including but not limited to”, and are notintended to exclude other components.

The present invention also covers the exact terms, features, values andranges etc. in case these terms, features, values and ranges etc. areused in conjunction with terms such as about, around, generally,substantially, essentially, at least etc. (i.e., “about 3” shall alsocover exactly 3 or “substantially constant” shall also cover exactlyconstant).

The term “at least one” should be understood as meaning “one or more”,and therefore includes both embodiments that include one or multiplecomponents. Furthermore, dependent claims that refer to independentclaims that describe features with “at least one” have the same meaning,both when the feature is referred to as “the” and “the at least one”.

It will be appreciated that variations to the foregoing embodiments ofthe invention can be made while still falling within the scope of theinvention can be made while still falling within scope of the invention.Features disclosed in the specification, unless stated otherwise, can bereplaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similarpurpose. Thus, unless stated otherwise, each feature disclosedrepresents one example of a generic series of equivalent or similarfeatures.

Use of exemplary language, such as “for instance”, “such as”, “forexample” and the like, is merely intended to better illustrate theinvention and does not indicate a limitation on the scope of theinvention unless so claimed. Any steps described in the specificationmay be performed in any order or simultaneously, unless the contextclearly indicates otherwise.

All of the features and/or steps disclosed in the specification can becombined in any combination, except for combinations where at least someof the features and/or steps are mutually exclusive. In particular,preferred features of the invention are applicable to all aspects of theinvention and may be used in any combination.

We claim:
 1. A method of calibrating at least one camera, the methodcomprising: (a) capturing at least one image of at least one arraypattern, said at least one image comprising a plurality of interestpoints, with at least one pose of each at least one camera; (b)processing said at least one image to determine a provisional positionof at least one interest point on the at least one image; (c) refiningthe provisional position of said at least one interest point on the atleast one image by: (i) selecting a partial area of the at least oneimage that includes at least one interest point and at least a portionof at least two edges that meet at or near the interest point, (ii)defining at least a first set of edge points and a second set of edgepoints representative of said at least two edges; (iii) applyingregression analysis to the first set of edge points and the second setof edge points, respectively; (iv) determining a refined position of theat least one interest point as an intersection of regression functionsrepresentative of the first of edge points and the second set of edgepoints; and (d) optimizing camera calibration parameters based on therefined position of the at least one interest point on the at least oneimage, wherein the optimizing comprises estimating parameter values thatdescribe at least one or a combination of: poses of the at least onearray pattern; and/or poses of the at least one camera; and/or cameraproperties for each of the at least one camera, preferably at leastoptical center, focal length and distortion parameters of each of the atleast one camera, and wherein the optimizing comprises estimating andsimultaneously optimizing parameter values that describe at least:mobile robot poses during the capturing of images; and/or poses of theat least one array pattern; and/or poses of the at least one camera;and/or camera properties for each of the at least one camera, preferablyat least optical center, focal length and distortion parameters of eachof the at least one camera.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the atleast first and second set of edge points are defined by: (l) applyingan edge detection algorithm to image data in a region of interest togenerate a set of edge points that includes the at least twointersecting edges; (m) defining at least two lines that intersect atthe provisional interest point; and (n) categorizing the set of edgepoints into at least a first and a second set of edge points based on adistance of the edge points within each set to each of the lines, suchthat the edge points within a first set are closer to one of the linesthan to any other line defined in (b).
 3. The method of claim 1, whereinthe at least one camera comprises at least two cameras that are fixedlyarranged on a mobile robot and wherein the at least two cameras compriseat least one pair of stereo cameras and wherein the method furthercomprises refining a stereo calibration of the at least one pair ofstereo cameras upon completion of the optimizing.
 4. The method of claim1, wherein the at least one array pattern comprises a plurality ofsquares, and wherein the interest point is a corner at a meeting pointof four squares on the at least one array pattern.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the at least one array pattern comprises a plurality ofsquares having identical dimensions and that are arranged in adjacentpositions such that at least two sides of each square meets a side of anadjacent square, each square having a uniform color, and wherein the atleast one array pattern comprises squares having two or more colors. 6.The method of claim 1, wherein prior to the optimizing, a refinedposition of each interest point is uniquely assigned based on a colorpattern in the at least one array pattern.
 7. The method of claim 1,wherein regression analysis comprises performing linear regression ofedge points representative of the predicted edges, and wherein a refinedposition of each interest point is determined as the intersection oflines obtained by the linear regression analysis of the edge points. 8.An image capture system comprising: (a) at least one land-based mobilerobot; (b) at least two cameras that are fixedly mounted on each said atleast one mobile robot; (c) a processing module, adapted to: (i) receiveand store image data, obtained by the at least two cameras, of at leastone array pattern that comprises a plurality of interest points; (ii)process said image data to determine a provisional position of theinterest points on each captured image; (iii) refine the provisionalposition of the interest points by regression analysis of data pointsrepresentative of at least two edges that meet at or near the interestpoints, the refined position being determined as an intersection ofregression curves thereby obtained; and (iv) optimize camera calibrationparameters based on the refined position of the interest points, whereinoptimizing in (iv) comprises estimating parameter values that describeat least one or a combination of: poses of the at least one arraypattern; and/or poses of the at least two cameras; and/or cameraproperties for each of the at least two cameras, preferably at leastoptical center, focal length and distortion parameters of each of the atleast two cameras, and wherein the optimizing comprises estimating andsimultaneously optimizing parameter values that describe at least:mobile robot poses during capturing of images; and/or poses of the atleast one array pattern; and/or poses of the at least two cameras;and/or camera properties for each of the at least two cameras,preferably at least optical center, focal length and distortionparameters of each of the at least two cameras.
 9. The image capturesystem of claim 8, wherein the mobile robot further comprises acommunication module and wherein the processing module is on a serverthat is in communication with the land-based mobile robot via thecommunication module.
 10. The image capture system of claim 8, whereinthe land-based mobile robot is an autonomous or semi-autonomous robot.11. A method of detecting interest points on an image of an arraypattern, the method comprising: (a) capturing at least one image of anarray pattern comprising a plurality of interest points with at leastone camera; (b) processing said at least one image to determine aprovisional position of at least one interest point on the at least oneimage; and (c) refining the provisional position of said at least oneinterest point on the at least one image by: (i) selecting a partialarea of the image that includes at least one interest point and at leasta portion of at least two edges that meet at or near the provisionalposition of the interest point, (ii) defining at least a first set ofedge points and second set of edge points representative of said atleast two edges; (iii) applying regression analysis to the first set ofedge points and the second set of edge points, respectively; and (iv)determining a refined position of the at least one interest point as anintersection of regression functions representative of the first set ofedge points and the second set of edge points, wherein the array patterncomprises rectangles or squares that are arranged so as to minimize anumber of corners at a meeting point of multiple rectangles or squareshaving an identical color arrangement about a corner, and so that thecolor arrangement of the rectangles or squares around each corner in thepattern is unique within the pattern.
 12. The method of claim 11,wherein the array pattern comprises a plurality of squares, and whereinthe interest point is a corner at a meeting point of four squares on thearray pattern.
 13. The method of claim 11, wherein the provisionalposition is determined by analysis of derivative of signal intensitiesin at least a portion of the image.
 14. The method of claim 11, whereinthe array pattern comprises a plurality of rectangles or squares havingidentical dimensions and that are arranged in adjacent positions suchthat at least two sides of each rectangle or square meets a side of anadjacent square, each square having a uniform color, and wherein thearray pattern comprises rectangles or squares having two or more colors.15. A method of calibration of at least one camera, the methodcomprising: (a) providing a mobile robot comprising a plurality ofcameras that are fixedly mounted thereon; (b) providing at least twogeometrically fixed array patterns, each pattern comprising a pluralityof interest points; (c) capturing a plurality of images of at least aportion of said array patterns using said plurality of cameras for aplurality of poses of the mobile robot; (d) determining the position ofa plurality of interest points within each of the array patterns forimages captured in (c), so as to generate a grid of interest pointswithin each array pattern for different poses of the mobile robot; and(e) process image information from (d) to simultaneously optimize atleast one of: (i) position of said plurality of cameras; and/or (ii)optical center of each of said plurality of cameras; and/or (iii) focallength of each of said plurality of cameras, wherein prior to theoptimizing, a refined position of each interest point is uniquelyassigned based on a color pattern in the array.
 16. The method of claim15, wherein the optimizing comprises estimating parameter values thatdescribe at least one of: (i) mobile robot poses during the capturing ofimages; (ii) poses of the array patterns; (iii) poses of the pluralityof cameras; and (iv) camera properties for each of the plurality ofcameras, preferably at least optical center, focal length and distortionparameters of each of the at least one camera.
 17. The method of claim15, wherein determination of the position of the interest point on animage is carried out by: processing an image to determine a provisionalposition of at least one interest point on the image; refining theprovisional position of said at least one interest point the images by:(i) selecting a partial area of the image that surrounds the at leastone interest point and includes at least a portion of at least two edgesthat meet at the interest point, (ii) defining at least a first set ofedge points and a second set of edge points representative of said atleast two intersecting edges; (iii) applying regression analysis to thefirst set of edge points and the second set of edge points,respectively; and (iv) determining a refined position of the at leastone interest point as an intersection of regression functionsrepresentative of the first set of edge points and the second set ofedge points.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the at least first andsecond set of edge points are defined by: (l) applying an edge detectionalgorithm to image data in a region of interest to generate a set ofedge points that includes the at least two intersecting edges; (m)defining at least two lines that intersect at the provisional interestpoint; and (n) categorizing the set of edge points into at least a firstand a second set of edge points based on a geometric distance of theedge points within each set to each of the lines, such that the edgepoints within a first set are closer to one of the lines than to anyother line defined in (b).
 19. The method of claim 15, wherein aninitial position of the interest point is determined by analysis ofderivative of signal intensities in at least a portion of at least oneimage.
 20. The method of claim 15, wherein regression analysis comprisesperforming linear regression of edge points representative of thepredicted edges, and wherein a refined position of each interest pointis determined as an intersection of lines obtained by the linearregression analysis of the edge points.